Colonial Conflicts in Contemporary Northern Ghana: A Historical Prognosis of the British Colonial Factor in the Nawuri-Gonja and Mamprusi-Kusasi Conflicts

Abstract

Northern Ghana has witnessed phenomenal increases in armed conflicts over the past three decades. Many of these conflicts are ‘colonial conflicts’ rooted in colonial policies, but some others have no reference to colonialism as they are occasioned by endogenous factors. The Kusasi-Mamprusi and Nawuri-Gonja conflicts are colonial conflicts whose historical roots are traceable to colonialism in Northern Ghana. This paper interrogates the British-sponsored political conferences held prior to the introduction of indirect rule in Northern Ghana, with special focus on the Mamprusi and Gonja conferences. The paper argues that the conferences sowed the seeds of the post-colonial MamprusiKusasi and Gonja-Nawuri conflicts.